How to upload documents to IDM using RPA

1

Open RPA Studio

Open RPA Studio on your machine. If you are not signed in already into the Tenant you would be asked to sign in before proceeding to RPA flow designer screens.

2

Create a New Project

On the RPA Studio home page, click Create New Project and specify the following properties in the pop-up window:

• Name: UploadDocumentToIDM
• Project Location: <default>
• Description: Simple document upload to IDM
• Language: VB

3

Add Get Files Directory activity

Add the activity Get Files Directory . This allows RPA Studio to read all the files in the selected directory. Then, under System Category , select Activities . Drag and drop the activity on the Design canvas and click on it. The properties of the selected activity will appear in the properties panel. Configure the properties in the following way:

• For Path, direct IDM to the files you want to upload with an argument called FilePath of type string and default value of the directory path "C:\RPA\IDM".

• For Files, let’s create a variable that will store the list of the file paths: called FileList of type _List _without any default value.

• To find _List _data type, expand the Variable Type and select Browse for Type . For Type name cell, type List andselect List under the System.Collections.Generic domain . Then from the drop down menu select String and press Ok.

4

Use For Each to call IDM Endpoints

Next, we need to create the logic to call an IDM Endpoint for each of the read files. For that, we need to drag and drop the activity For Each and configure it in the following way:

• Select the String data type for the property type Argument, since the file path we want to read is represented as a String.
• For Value, specify FileList.
• On the main canvas, you should see the following phrase: “For each item in FileList.”
• It is recommended to change "item" to "file" for clarity, so it is clear what is being read.

5

Add Sequence to For Each

In the For Each activity Body field, drag and drop the Sequence activity where we will add the next set of activities. Note that without the Sequence activity you can only add one activity as part of the For Each activity body .

6

Encode files with string

To send the document to IDM via API endpoint, it must be Base64 encoded.

1. Add the File to Base64 String activity (found in the System activities category).
2. Configure its properties:

• FilePath: Specify file, which represents the file path read from the directory.
• Base64String: Create a variable called filebase64 of type String to store the Base64-encoded file.

7

Add assign activity to store file names

Next, we will add the Assign activity and define the logic to store the file name as a variable. Later, we will use this property as a dynamic variable for the Endpoint Request payload. Let’s configure its properties in the following way:

• For "To": Create the variable FileName of type String.
• For "Value": Specify the following VB expression to retrieve the file name: System.IO.Path.GetFileName(file)

8

Create API Endpoint payload with Templating activity

Next, create the payload for the API Endpoint for POST method which will allow the documents to be posted into IDM with specific values. For that, we need to add the Templating Activity part of the System category for the activities. Let’s configure its properties in the following way:

• For the Values property, input the list of the variables used as part of the Template property. In this example it would be FileName and filebase64. To configure the property, click “… ”
• In the popup window for Key input, enter the name of the variable you will use in the Template property to create the payload for the API Endpoint. For Value input, enter the variable name holding the previously generated value, as defined in the Variable panel.
• If a different variable name is used in the Template property, the Key name must be changed accordingly.
• For Template, input the payload which would be posted via API Endpoint. Make the following transformations to the payload:
• Use single quotation marks (‘) instead of double quotation marks (“), as the value for this property should be a string and enclosed between a set of double quotations.
• Encode the dynamic variable in the following way: {{%variablename%}}
  • If a variable is an integer, write it without single quotation marks (‘), otherwise, it will be treated as a string.
  • In this example, all the values we are passing should be treated as strings, so enclose the variable within single quotation marks (‘).
• Example payload:
• "{'item': {'attrs': { 'attr': [ {'name': 'ScreenID', 'value': '1000MR'} ] }, 'resrs': { 'res': [ { 'filename': '{{%FileName%}}', 'base64':'{{%filebase64%}}'} ] }, 'acl': {'name': 'Public' },'entityName': 'DocumentUpload'} }"
• The actual payload is supposed to be in JSON format. However, since double quotations cannot be used, they must be replaced with single quotations. Moreover, the dynamic variables in the payload are ” {{%filebase64%}} and {{%FileName%}}
• For Text, which will store the payload with the correct values populated, let’s create the variable: TemplateOutPut of type String.

9

Convert Template to JSON with deserialized JSON

To use the created Text property output TemplateOutPut in the ION API Request, we need to transform it into JSON format. For that, drag and drop the Deserialized JSON activity and configure it in the following way:

• For JToken String , input the value created from the Templating activity as the variable: TemplateOutPut.

• For JToken Object: Create a variable named IONAPIPayload of type JToken to store the JSON payload.
• To select the JToken data type:

1. Click on Variable Type.
2. In the dropdown, select "Browse for Types".
3. Type "JToken" in the Type Name text field.
4. Select JToken under Newtonsoft.Json.Linq.

10

Create API Request with ION API Request

Now that we have a variable storing the JSON payload to post part of the API call, we can create the final API request to post the document. For that, drag and drop the IONAPI Request activity part of IONAPI activities’ category and configure the activity in the following way:

• For Method: Select POST.
• For URL:

Create an argument named EndpointURL of type String.

"https://mingle-ionapi.inforcloudsuite.com/TenantName/IDM/api/items"

Since this is a String, the default value should be enclosed in quotation marks (").

Ensure the URL corresponds to the tenant you are logged into.

• For Content Type:

Select application/json.

• For File Attachments and Headers:

Leave both empty.

• For POST Data:

Input the variable IONAPIPayload, which is the output of the Deserialize JSON activity.

• For Query Parameters:

Leave this property empty since the endpoint does not require any query parameters.

• For Response, create a variable for troubleshooting:

Name: Response

Type: ResponseObject

• To select the ResponseObject data type:

Click on Variable Type.

In the dropdown menu, select "Browse for Types".

In the Type Name text input field, type ResponseObject.

Select ResponseObject under Infor.RPA.Utilities.

11

Optional: Check API Response with Message Box

As an optional step for troubleshooting, you can add Message Box as the last activity of this sequence to read the API Response and see if the document was uploaded successfully. Let’s configure the activity in a following way:

• For Input Text, define the VB expression that will read the response from the API call:

Use the variable Response, which is the output of the previous activity.

Response.ReadAsText

• The properties may remain empty.

Now you can run the flow and check the logs and uploaded file!